Real Madrid Prepares for New Season: Diomande's Fitness Concerns
Real Madrid edge towards the new season with the familiar hum of expectation growing louder. The friendlies keep coming, the legs get heavier, and the scrutiny sharpens. Every line-up, every omission, is a talking point.
Next up is Deportivo La Coruna in the Teresa Herrera Trophy, the penultimate stop on this summer tour before La Liga business begins. The names on Jose Mourinho’s squad list for Wednesday felt reassuringly familiar: Vinicius Jr., Endrick and the core of a side expected to carry the weight of another title charge.
One name, though, was missing. And that silence spoke loudly.
Diomande’s delayed first step
Yan Diomande, the club’s headline signing of the summer and the most expensive in Real Madrid’s history, will not feature against Deportivo. Not because of a knock, not because of a tactical decision, but because his body is not yet ready for Madrid’s pace.
As reported by Mario Penalver, the decision to leave Diomande out comes down to match fitness. The Ivory Coast international only arrived at the club’s facilities last Friday. Since then, he has managed just two full sessions with the group. For a club that treats pre-season as a dress rehearsal rather than a gentle warm-up, that simply isn’t enough.
So on Wednesday night, Diomande will watch. He will stand on the touchline, tracksuit on, boots off, learning his new team from a few yards away rather than from the middle of the pitch. The plan is clear: build him up for Sunday, when Real Madrid face Schalke in their final pre-season game.
By then, with a few more demanding sessions behind him, the expectation inside Valdebebas is that he will finally be ready to pull on the shirt in a match setting. The debut is only being delayed, not doubted.
A €140 million weight
The pause might be wise, because when Diomande does step out, he will do so under a spotlight few players ever experience.
Real Madrid spent big to get him. Negotiations with RB Leipzig dragged on for weeks before the club finally agreed to a gross package of €140 million. That figure pushes Diomande past every Galactico that came before him. He is now the costliest signing in Real Madrid’s history.
It is a glamorous record on paper, but a brutal one in reality. At this club, transfer fees are not numbers; they are yardsticks. Every touch, every mistake, every quiet game will be measured against that €140 million.
Adapting to Real Madrid is hard enough for any new arrival. The standards are unforgiving, the rhythm relentless, the demands from the stands and the dressing room constant. Layer on the pressure of being the most expensive signing the club has ever made, and the challenge becomes something else entirely.
That is the burden Diomande walks into. From the moment he makes his debut, his season will be judged through the lens of that fee. He will be expected not just to settle, but to dominate. Not just to contribute, but to justify.
Which is why these days on the training pitch, and this brief delay to his first appearance, matter. Real Madrid need him sharp, confident, and ready when he finally crosses the white line. The club cannot afford a hesitant start; the player cannot either.
His first minutes, likely against Schalke this weekend, will not decide his future. But they will set the tone for a season in which “good” will not be enough. For €140 million, Real Madrid will demand something closer to spectacular.
